Lord Byron: Final Version
To a Lady, is a poem written by Lord Byron in 1806 that
belongs to his work called Fugitive pieces, from the collection Hours
of Idleness.
The first impression that I have had
when I read the title is that the poem is addressed to a lady, probably to the
lover of Byron, but just after the title there is a prologue to the poem, who
tells us that a lady gave the author a lock of hair, because of that I think
that the author is going to present us this lady and not to address her. He
tells us that the poem happened a night in December, and the place is a garden.
The first impression I have had of the poem is that the writer is fallen in
love with a lady, and he describes this love as pure and fixed and he compares
it with the romance of Romeo and Juliet. But then he finds a problem that their
love is worse than Juliet’s love, because the plot of Shakespeare happens in
Italy, where the weather is good and the sun shines, and their love happens in
England, where it rains and it freezes. But instead he promises to love her
every night and if his love decreases, the following night he will love her
again, it means, his love can decrease this night, but this love will reborn
the following night.
The poem is very simple and presents a
continuous form, it is not separated in paragraphs. It has 44 verses plus three
more for the prologue. The rhythm is in the 10 first verses: A- A- B- B- D- D-
A- A- D- D. Although the poem is not divided into paragraphs we can divide it
and analyse it part be part. It is important that the poet talks directly to
his love: for example line 5 ( our love); line 7 ( we sight…); or line 13 ( you
have chosen…). Every time he talks about himself and his love, it means, about
their love.
Firstly, in verses 1 to 4, the writer
says that the locks of hair the lady gave him were the cause of making their
love true and increased their prayers of love, and he says that these prayers (
I think as all the things said in love) made not sense. Then in lines 5 and 6
he affirms that he started to say before, that their love is fixed and it has
no time or place, nobody and nothing can move their love.
Secondly he explains the things they
must do to make their love romantic. These things are: to sight and whine (
line 7); to have jealousy repine ( line 8) and whims ( line 9). And in the
following four lines ( 11- 14) he compares his love with Lydia Languish and
tells her she must not be worried about the love she has chosen on this night
of winter and in lines 15 and 16 he compares himself with the scene of a garden
in winter.
Thirdly in lines 17 to 19 he speaks
about a garden and he tells us that Shakespeare made the precedent of this
image of love in a garden with his play Romeo and Juliet. He talks about
the moment when Juliet declared her love to Romeo in her garden and compares
this with the moment his lady declared him her love in the same situation ( a
night in a garden).
Then he talks about the muses that
inspire the poets, and that there is a place where you are more inspired. Lines
22 to 28 he says that if Shakespeare could, he would chance Byron’s scene of
love in Britain to Italy, because the nights in Italy are proper to make a
declaration of love. It is difficult for the writer to make a declaration in these conditions: a night
in London, it would be easier to make it in Italy, where he had not objections.
In the following lines ( 28- 32) he says why it is difficult to make a
declaration in Britain. This is because of the weather, the climate in Britain
is so rigid and he says that this makes the love so frigid and tells her to
finish this imitation because as he says it is a silly situation.
Finally from line 33 to line 44 he asks
her to meet each other under the sun, as they did before, but if he must, he
will meet her in the night and he will love her for hours and compares this
love with rural loves. But he says that it is probably that his love decreases
because of the weather, but it is destiny that he will love her again the
following night.
